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Good day, denizens of OC.net! Per our tradition, the forum will shut down for Clean Monday, beginning around 9pm Sunday evening (2/18) and ending around 9pm Monday evening (2/19). In the spirit of the coming Forgiveness Sunday, I ask you to forgive me for the sins I have committed against you. At the end of Great and Holy Week, the Forum will also shut down for Holy Friday and Holy Saturday (times TBA).

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"Come all ye faithful..." and "Joy to the World." I sing them (among other traditional western Christmas carols) during the distribution of the antidoron following the Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, after "Thy Birth O Christ our God..." and "The Virgin Today..."

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...you can imagine so-called healing services of the pigpen. The books that could be written, you know: Life in the Pigpen. How to Cope in the Pigpen. Being Happy in the Pigpen. Surviving in the Pigpen. And then there could be counselling, for people who feel unhappy in the pigpen, to try to get them to come to terms with the pigpen, and to accept the pigpen.

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I don’t listen to Carols until the day of Christmas Eve, however I can present my favourite carols (as you can seeu, they’re generally one of my favourite songs)

Dobry vechir tobi is absolutely my favourite carols (it was also one of the first "Orthodox carols" as Ukrainian/Belarussia/Lemko carols are called in Poland - I've heard it many years ago and I fell in love).www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KMg6VAjpW8 - that's my favourite recording (video is created by me) however I have a lot of them

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i would also love it if people posted some orthodox Christmas songs in english (or translated into english).

Your Nativity, O Christ our God, Has shone to the world the Light of wisdom! For by it, those who worshipped the stars, Were taught by a Star to adore You, The Sun of Righteousness, And to know You, the Orient from on High. O Lord, glory to You!

Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One, And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One! Angels with shepherds glorify Him! The wise men journey with a star! Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child!

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Michał Kalina, this isn't about your ESL - you copied the text faithfully from another site. I'm the one who needs help understanding the language of these two lines. They make sense only if I read them as "Your Nativity has shown to the world the Light of wisdom!" or "Your Nativity has shone on the world the Light of wisdom!" Is it one of these, or am I missing something?

I looked up Nassar's text and found "Thy Nativity hath given rise to the light of knowledge in the world." That one I understand, and it could be argued that what I understand from Nassar's text could be paraphrased either way that I suggested. I'd appreciate some help from someone who can refer to versions in other languages, especially the ancient ones.

that's lovely, could anyone send a link with a tune?i may use it with some people from our church.

Two hymns that Michal has posted are the troparion of the Nativity (the first one) and kontakion of the Nativity (the second one. They're known also in Coptic Church, especially the second one (E-parthenos). There are many melodies for them (depending on the tradition e.g Greek, Romanian, Serbian etc.), you can find easily various recordings in the Internet of them.

As we're talking about Orthodox hymn for Nativity, I would like to present my 3 favourite pieces. The first one is the troparion for the Christmas Eve:

Once Mary, pregnant with a seedless pregnancy, was registered in Bethlehem with the elder Joseph, as being of the seed of David. And while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered, but there was no room for them in the inn. But the cave showed itself to be a beauteous palace for the Queen, and Christ is born to raise up the image that fell of old!here it is in English: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYkoXYa2aM4and there is my video of the same hymn in Church Slavonic (I prefer this arragment as it's more traditional): www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sZFpoHSMh8&feature=g-crec-u

The other two are from the Canon of the Nativity. The irmos of the first ode:Christ is born; glorify Him!Christ comes from heaven; go to meet Him!Christ is on earth; be exalted!Sing to the Lord, all the earth!And praise Him in gladness, all people, for He has been glorified!And my video of it in different languages: www.youtube.com/watch?v=a13uGpyL8RA&feature=g-crec-uIn my video I used byzantine setting for it in English, here you have Eastern-Slavic (Russian) melody: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JBzWNOvq-U

And the irmos of the ninth ode (however, the translation does not show the depth of e.g Church Slavonic text):O my soul, magnify Her, Who is more honorable and Who is more glorious than the Heavenly Hosts.A mystery I behold which is strange and wondrous. The Cave is Heaven, and the Virgin is the Throne of the Cherubim; in the confines of the manger is laid the Infinite Christ our God, Whom we praise and magnify.And again, my video of it in different languages: www.youtube.com/watch?v=etw_ekHBJY0&feature=g-crec-u

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Two hymns that Michal has posted are the troparion of the Nativity (the first one) and kontakion of the Nativity (the second one. They're known also in Coptic Church, especially the second one (E-parthenos). There are many melodies for them (depending on the tradition e.g Greek, Romanian, Serbian etc.), you can find easily various recordings in the Internet of them.

i had not realised our hymns were so similar. i looked up those tunes on the internet, but they are mainly choral arrangements.

does anyone have any easy to sing orthodox Christmas hymns?i don't mean 'catchy' or 'pop' music, just something that does not require a trained choir to sing it! our 'eparthenos' is not in that category either, as it is very melismatic and will take me until Pascha to learn how to sing it!mmm, that reminds me, it's about time to learn some more of the difficult songs for the paschal season...

does anyone have any easy to sing orthodox Christmas hymns?i don't mean 'catchy' or 'pop' music, just something that does not require a trained choir to sing it! our 'eparthenos' is not in that category either, as it is very melismatic and will take me until Pascha to learn how to sing it!mmm, that reminds me, it's about time to learn some more of the difficult songs for the paschal season...

I think the Nativity Canon chanted in the simple byzantine 1st tone is quite easy (I know there are different arrangements even of this type of chanting this hymn, but believe me, it's not so difficult to sing it) and the troparion of the Nativity chanted in the 4th tone of Russian (synodal) melody - try to find the simplest fragment. This hymn is sung by EO families before the supper on Christmas Eve and before the dinner on Christmas day, so it's not so difficult

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Pray for persecuted Christians, especially in Serbian Kosovo and Raška, Egypt and Syria

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who can watch the watchmen?"No one is paying attention to your post reports"Why do posters that claim to have me blocked keep sending me pms and responding to my posts? That makes no sense.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who can watch the watchmen?"No one is paying attention to your post reports"Why do posters that claim to have me blocked keep sending me pms and responding to my posts? That makes no sense.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who can watch the watchmen?"No one is paying attention to your post reports"Why do posters that claim to have me blocked keep sending me pms and responding to my posts? That makes no sense.

visited his shrine in prague a few years ago (sfaty vaclav- sorry for wrong spelling). i don't know if the shrine is of him or his father who bore the same name, but it was very exciting to be there.the story of the page boy putting his feet into the step of 'king' (he was actually a duke) wenceslas / vaclav is actually true. the young man was very cold, and as he put his feet into the places where 'king' wenceslas trod, he warmed up by the power of God. 'king' / saint wenceslas was a holy and good duke who used to give gifts to the poor and rule wisely.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who can watch the watchmen?"No one is paying attention to your post reports"Why do posters that claim to have me blocked keep sending me pms and responding to my posts? That makes no sense.